FABIO FOGNINI MAY face a fine for saying “a bomb should explode” on Wimbledon, All England Club chief executive Richard Lewis said today.
The Italian 12th seed made the outburst during his straight-sets third-round defeat to US world number 94 Tennys Sandgren on Saturday.
“It’s fair to play here? Damned English, really. Damned, really. Wish a bomb would explode on this club. A bomb should explode here,” he fumed in Italian.
He apologised afterwards, which Lewis said would be taken into account.
“It was one of these heat of the moment comments. It was a very unfortunate comment and Fabio was good enough to apologise straight away,” the Wimbledon supremo said.
“It wouldn’t surprise me in the end if there was a small fine but I think we will certainly keep it in context, and readily accept the apology.”
During the first week of the championships, Australia’s Bernard Tomic was stripped of his entire £45,000 (€50,000) prize money for tanking in his first-round match, which was over in just 58 minutes.
“Generally the behaviour has been outstanding,” said Lewis. “There’s been one or two high-profile incidents. But if you look back over the years, there’s always something going on.
“It’s one of the beauties of tennis, that it’s a head-to-head contest and emotions and passions run high and sometimes they slightly overspill in a way that there has to be some sanctions.”
Meanwhile, Australian hothead Nick Kyrgios will not face action after he admitted deliberately blasting the ball at Rafael Nadal’s body during his defeat to the Spanish third seed.
“It’s very common in doubles where players aim at the opponent. It’s part and parcel of being a professional tennis player,” said Lewis. “That and underarm serving are very much within the rules of the sport.”
Kyrgios hit two underarm serves during the match on Centre Court and also had a lengthy rant at the umpire.
“Some of the conversational discussion Nick had with the umpire is maybe worthy of scrutiny,” Lewis added.
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